Franklin D. Margiotta (Washington, D.C.: Brassey’s,
1994), 47–50; Hughes, Matthew D., General Allenby and
the Campaign of the E.E.F. in Palestine, 1917–18 (Ph.D.
dissertation, University of London, 1995); Spach, John
Thom, “Allenby and the Last Crusade,” Military History
12, no. 7 (March 1996), 26–32; Bruce, George, “Damas-
cus III,” “Gaza IV,” and “Gaza V,” in Collins Dictionary
of Wars (Glasgow, Scotland: HarperCollins Publishers,
1995), 70–71, 95–96.
Alp-Arslan (Mohammed Ibn Da’ud) (ca. 1029/30–
1072) second sultan of the Seljuk dynasty of Persia
Alp-Arslan was born Mohammed Mohammed Ibn Da’ud
in 1029 or 1030 (some historians also report 1032); his
Turkish name Alp-Arslan means “the lion hero” or “val-
iant lion.” The great-grandson of Seljuk, the founder of
the dynasty and empire that bore his name, Alp-Arslan
was the son of Da’ud Chagri Beg of Khurasan. In 1059,
he succeeded his father as the ruler of Khurasan, and
five years later he superseded his uncle Toghrul Beg as
the sultan of Oran, becoming the ruler of what is today
Iran and Iraq.
Almost from the beginning of his reign until its
end, Alp-Arslan was a warrior figure, fighting to keep
control over his empire. When his father’s cousin, Ku-
tulmish, tried to revolt in Khurasan to the north, Alp-
Arslan put the insurrection down on his own. In 1064,
he headed a powerful army that moved into Armenia
and took control of the land lying between the Caspian
and Black Seas, neighboring today’s Georgia.
During Alp-Arslan’s fight for control of Armenia
and parts of what is now Georgia, the Byzantine emperor
Romanus Diogenes was dealing with bands of invading
Turkomen into areas in Asia Minor controlled by Byzan-
tium. After defeating these bands in three wars—one of
which was fought by his chief general, Manuel Comne-
nus—Romanus decided to challenge the Seljuk control
of Armenia. In 1071, with an army of some 100,000
men, Romanus moved into Armenia.
Alp-Arslan, who had started to invade parts of what
is now Syria, headed home to fight off Romanus’s at-
tack on his rule of Armenia. On 26 August 1071, his
army met Romanus at Manzikert, or Malazgird (now
in modern Turkey). Alp-Arslan wanted to avoid the
battle and offered peace to Romanus, who refused even
though his alliance with Norman mercenaries was shaky.
Alp-Arslan controlled more than 15,000 heavily armed
cavalry against Romanus’s 60,000 troops, commanded
by his general Sav-Tengi (Taranges). However, the main
Byzantine force was left with little support, and when
Alp-Arslan’s troops moved against the Byzantine wings,
Romanus was captured. The Byzantine losses were
light—approximately 2,000 men. Alp-Arslan treated
Romanus kindly and sent him back home bearing gifts.
Alp-Arslan now prepared to invade Turkistan, the
home of his ancestors, and marched his army to the
Oxus River. His troops had captured a Turkomen forti-
fication, and Alp-Arslan asked to have the commander
brought before him. The man, Yusuf al-Khwarizmi,
took out a dagger and stabbed Alp-Arslan, who died just
a few hours later, on 24 November 1072. His burial site
is unknown. In his life, though, Alp-Arslan had set in
train a series of Suljuk conquests that led to the begin-
ning of the Ottoman Empire.References: Windrow, Martin, and Francis K. Mason,
“Alp-Arslan,” The Wordsworth Dictionary of Military Bi-
ography (Hertfordshire, U.K.: Wordsworth Editions Ltd.,
1997), 13–14; France, John, Victory in the East: A Mili-
tary History of the First Crusade (Cambridge, U.K.: Cam-
bridge University Press, 1994), 147; Friendly, Alfred, The
Dreadful Day: The Battle of Manzikert, 1071 (London:
Hutchinson, 1981).Alva, Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, duke
of (duke of Alba) (1507–1582) Spanish general
Perhaps the most successful military officer of the Holy
Roman Empire, the duke of Alva was born in the village
of Piedrahita, Spain, on 29 October 1507, the scion of
a wealthy family. In 1524, when only 17, he joined the
imperial army of the Holy Roman Empire and, while
fighting against the French at Pavia (1525) and at Fuent-
errabia (1526), showed himself to be an excellent military
officer. For his service in this engagement and in expedi-
tions to Tunis and Algiers, Alva was made a general by
the age of 26, and he commanded an army by 30.
In 1546, the imperial forces in Germany were put
under Alva’s command in the war against the Schmal-
kaldic League. This was an alliance formed by Protestant
princes at Schmalkalden in 1531 when Charles V, the
Holy Roman Emperor, threatened to resist the rise of
Lutheranism in the empire. Charles V was at the head
of the force against the league, but Alva commanded
the troops in battle. On the opposing side were Philip Alp-ARSlAn